Bharat Ratna for Gulzarilal Nanda, Aruna Asaf Ali

The President conferred the country's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, on Gulzarilal Nanda, twice interim prime minister, and posthumously to freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali for their outstanding contribution to the nation.

Aruna Asaf Ali, the heroine of the Quit India movement and the first mayor of Delhi, played an active role in social and political life after Independence.

She had also been bestowed the 1991 Jawaharlal Nehru award for international understanding in promoting goodwill and friendship among the people of the world.

Gulzarilal Nanda is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan. He is a founder of the Bharat Sevak Samaj and made Ahmedabad the base for his 'Karma Bhoomi' movement in Gujarat. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sabarkantha constituency.

The 100-year-old Nanda, who is now settled in Gujarat, was given the award for his tireless contribution to social and political life. He was twice caretaker prime minister of India.

The awards were being given on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Indian Independence.

The last awards were given in 1992, to Subhas Chandra Bose, Maulana Kalam Azad, J R D Tata and Satyajit Ray. Thereafter, no Bharat Ratna was given as various petitions were filed in the courts questioning the tradition of civilian awards. The Supreme Court vacated a stay on the awards in December 1995.

So far 30 prominent figures, including Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and Dr Nelson Mandela have been presented the award, which was first given to Dr C Rajagopalachari in 1954.

The last of the Gandhians
The girl who hoisted the flag of freedom